The 7th Grade annual animation is a collaborative project that takes many months to draw and as much time to scan and create into a movie. The students start by picking a spirit animal and drawing it. The idea is that the animal should capture the spirit of themselves not necessarily a visual likeness. If they chose they can create a "random" object to draw. Then in their "core" classes they are given (randomly) another persons spirit animal/random object. They have to draw on a 6" x 9" piece of paper that persons spirit animal/random object into their object in a fluid and gradual way in at least 18 frames. Most students draw many more then that. The average amount of drawings is like 50. It is a great process seeing them come up with ideas, working with the people before them and after them about what they want to do. We watch "BIG BANG, BIG BOOM" by Blu for inspiration.

https://youtu.be/cyXSWmLBXVk

We talk about the history of animation as well. We sometimes watch this about the famous cartoonist Windsor McCay and how he drew thousands of drawings himself to create a short film.

https://youtu.be/kcSp2ej2S00?list=FLe8OT5snVVWqvOZzHcXFgfQ

When they finished their part of the animation we scanned them onto the classroom computer. We organized them and when we had everyones we put them into iMovie. Each class had its own iMovie.   We exported them and then combined them into a final cut movie and added sound effects and music. 

We started in September and finished most of the drawings by thanksgiving (Late November) This was the final movie for 2015 (though we didn't finish it till 2016.

https://youtu.be/SLb7w67zrXg

What is going on in the Art Room?

Right now, the 6th graders are putting the last bits of the detail into their ceramic face jugs. and face cups. They are smoothing adding details with under glaze color but mostly it's all subtraction at this point.






 7th grade is working on "going as far as they can" with their face drawings, but are also working on pinhole photography. Pinhole photography has a way of creating a fever every year, and there really is no other project like it. The students love learning about the process and discovering the "magic" of photos developing and slowly appearing as an image right before their eyes in the paper chemical.





 The 8th graders are working on their year long photography project (Shooting film, developing them, and enlarging them in the darkroom), self portraits, and "independent projects"





 I recently made a time lapse of a day in my room.

https://youtu.be/Ih7luu0kEz0